WASHINGTON – Vice President Cheney said this week that dunking terrorist suspects in water during questioning was a “no-brainer,” prompting complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing the use of a controversial technique known as waterboarding on prisoners held by the U.S.
In an interview Tuesday with Scott Hennen, a conservative radio show host from Fargo, N.D., Cheney agreed with Hennen’s assertion that “a dunk in water” may yield valuable intelligence from terrorism suspects. He also referred to information gleaned from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the captured architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but stopped short of explicitly saying what techniques were used.
“Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?” Hennen asked.
“Well, it’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said. “But for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in.”
Numerous sources have said the CIA subjected Mohammed and other “high-value” terrorism suspects to waterboarding, a technique that gives the prisoner the sensation of drowning.
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